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Nice try but I’m fairly certain the UI needs improvement, and possibly zoom algorithm to be “picasa-pan-and-zoom-screensaver-smooth”. . Here is my suggestion on how the world’s most efficient image viewer should work. Picasa 3 almost got it, but they could have improved the UI. Orbitzoom, specifically:

1.) Double click to fit. Nice. I would keep this.

2.) Panning should be done with the left mouse button, always. That’s just about all the left button should do. Click and drag to pan.

3.) Zooming should be done with the right mouse button. The location of the pointer serves as the starting point for the zoom. The zoom goes in or out based on if the mouse is moved up or down. A small push up with the mouse should begin a gradual smooth zoom in. Pulling the mouse back should stop the zooming. Then the user can let go of the right mouse button and pan around.

I can’t be alone on this…

great work. The world needs this. Seems like Picasa3 image viewer is dangerously close to being the killer-app. Too bad the zooming and “%” pop-up ruin it.

I need an automatic slide show program that can pan and zoom on pictures according to pre-program directions. I wish OrbitZoom could record movement on individual pictures and replay them automatically.

PaulY… I have a tool called Zen Pan that does this… it is basically a motion graphics program that lets you pan across pictures or crossfade to new pictures over time in various ways. I thought it was great and use it for a few things but then realized by the time I added up the size for the pictures I was panning and showing it was megabytes and megabytes and kind of lost heart as premiere to an flv was probably the better way to go… You can see the tool at work at http://www.zenvlog.com and http://inventor.wordpress.com

Damien, thanks for the comments. I suspect I agree with you – your arrangement looks to be optimal. I am not sure the mac has a right button which in part prompted the move to the left button click zoom.

The click zoom reduces strain by allowing you to zoom without having to hold down your finger – and once you get used to it I think it is just as easy.

The mouse wheel is good for zoom in and out too… but not all mouses have it.

Some more thoughts… It would be nice to have “cursorless” mouse functionality so nothing appears over the photo. It would also be nice to have a fully working keyboard-only solution i.e. no mouse. This should also have a distraction-free view of the image. I just wish I had one single program that works as well as that old Play Gizmos 98! That was a good viewer! One last thought about the current interface. I find it hard to use mainly because the image zooms in and out repeatedly beyond my control. This is because I move the mouse up, then down–but too far down, which currently re-initiates the zoom process.

Orbitzoom is brilliant, using it on a site I’m designing, only thing is though, internet explorer seems to not display it whereas every other browser seems to be working ok, anyone else had this problem?

Hi,
Orbitzoom is great, I’m trying it now for an artist’s website. It performs really well when zooming in.

There some usability concerns though. When zoomed all the way in (which only takes a slight gesture with the mouse in no matter what direction), there is no way to zoom out again, other than doubleclicking the image to restore the image.

Would it be possible to incorporate zooming out? For instance, sliding left and up zooms in, sliding right or down zooms out?

Another question: is it possible to get rid of the orbitzoom logo altogether? Perhaps in some kind of licensed version?

Other than this: it’s great and fast! Keep up the good work.
cheers, peter

Thanks very much! Frankly, I’m stumped…, such a great service and so fast…

I’ll keep a keen eye on Orbitzoom, it has a lot of potential for an artist’s web presence. Let me know if you have a paypal donation button somewhere. I’ll let you know when the site I’m working on right now is online.

Just tried it and it’s truly lightweight and simple. I’m impressed! I still have some suggested improvements to make it perfect:

* Remember zoom degree and pan position between slideshow images. Possibly also a mode where these settings are remembered for EACH image (defaulting to the last image’s settings until changed).

* Perhaps individual slideshow delay per image.

* Ability to load and save file lists as a text file, hopefully including above settings.

* Also, how about: Left-click without drag: zoom in until button released, right-click: zoom out until button released?

An old version 1.D2 of Lview Pro from 1996 has a “bug” which can be exploited to make it set and remember slideshow pan position by clicking once at some place in the image. It’s the only program I have seen that manages it and it’s even not intentional! There’s a gap to be filled here.